Good morning, Baltimore: Need to know for Friday

The Baltimore Sun

WEATHER

The National Weather Service is calling for Friday to start cloudy and then become sunny, with a high near 102 and west winds between 6 and 9 miles per hour. A heat advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Heat index values will be as high as 109. Friday night is expected to be partly cloudy, with a low around 79 and west winds around 5 miles per hour or less. There is a 20 percent chance of precipitation.

Gas leak forces evacuations in Gambrills: A ruptured natural gas line forced a day care and 15 homes in Gambrills to be evacuated Thursday as fire and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews worked to contain the threat of explosion, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

Add pitching to the Orioles' problems after 7-2 loss to Indians: Orioles pitcher Wei-Yin Chen gave up six runs on six hits (including two home runs) in a 7-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Thursday's loss was the Orioles' third straight and their seventh in their last nine. This is the first time the Orioles (41-34) are fewer than eight games over .500 since May 2.

Barton drafted by Trail Blazers; English to Pistons: Former Lake Clifton and Memphis swingman Will Barton was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the No. 40 pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night. Four picks later, guard Kim English, a Baltimore native who played at Randallstown and then Missouri, was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the 44th overall pick in the second round.

TODAY'S FRONT PAGE

Health care reform moves ahead in Maryland, nationally: States including Maryland can move with more certainty to insure their poor, and the federal government can require others to buy health coverage after the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's landmark health care law Thursday.

Health care ruling a win for Obama, Md. Democrats: The Supreme Court's health care decision gave a boost to President Barack Obama and Maryland Democrats on Thursday but left the political landscape unsettled as Republicans doubled down on threats to undo the landmark law, either in Congress or by way of the election in November.

As other cities grow, Baltimore continues to shrink: At a time when cities across the country are gaining population and young people are flocking to urban centers, Baltimore remains stuck in a decades-long decline. According to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, the city lost about 1,500 people from April 2010 to July 2011.

Naval Academy greets record number of female plebes: Helena Cheslack is one of 295 female plebes, a record 24 percent of the U.S. Naval Academy's entering Class of 2016. She and her classmates arrived Thursday expecting the toughest summer of their young lives. But they spoke matter-of-factly about the increasing gender equity of the brigade. That casual acceptance felt like victory for the women of earlier classes.